- It is assumed that the Abraxane therapy will be of no further interest if the true confirmed response rate is < 5%, but will warrant further study if the response rate is > 20%. Utilizing a two-stage design and statistical tools from the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) [http://www.swogstat.org/statoolsout.html] and assuming a power of 90% and a significance level of 5% for sample size calculation, for the first stage of the study, a total of 20 eligible patients will be enrolled. The trial will proceed to the second stage if at least 1 patient achieves a partial or complete response to Abraxane. Given an estimated 10% drop-out rate, 22 patients will be enrolled at stage 1 and 22 patients will be enrolled in stage 2 for a total number of 44 patients enrolled. If a total of at least 5 patients achieve a partial or complete response to Abraxane, the regimen will be considered as worthy of further study.